“I fell through” is what I said when I broke through the ice and fell into Fowler Lake over the weekend…
I was pretty damn matter of fact. I didn’t panic, or freak out, I just sort of had the ice give way under me, and then I was all wet, and in the water up to my waist.
It wasn’t really a matter of thin ice, but I’ll say this: If you are on the lake, and decide to stand next to a raft, don’t stand there too long, because there is a good chance the water under the raft is not really frozen, or frozen very well.
Unlike every movie you’ve seen, I did not go under the ice, or lose hearing in one of my ears. Basically, my legs got all wet, and then I climbed out of the water and onto the raft. Everyone else was freaked out, but I was just instantly wet and cold, so I wanted to go home. I was wearing a pair of dungarees and snowpants. My dungarees didn’t even get that wet, but my snowpants did, as did my Chilkats, which are still drying out 4 days later.
By the time we got home and I got out of the wet clothes, we were laughing about the whole thing. (Remember, tragedy + time = comedy.) I even came up with a headline in case the local paper wanted to mention it “Local man falls through ice” and I considered printing up a shirt that said “Fowler Lake Polar Bear Club” for myself…